GRINDHOUSE, a movie review
If you are like me and hate movie spoilers, please do not read this! thankee.
GRINDHOUSE
a review by A. Marga
I went to see GRINDHOUSE expecting it to be extraordinary. and hell, was it just!
The movie is a "double feature" of Robert Rodriguez's "Planet Terror" and Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof." The entire picture was supposed to spoof a classic drive in during the seventies, including random things I thought were snazzy.
"Planet Terror"
Out of the two movies, sadly I must confess that "Planet Terror" was probably the better one. Not only was it out of the ordinary, it was hella awesome! I would guess it was around 1:15 minutes of pure action, but it felt good. LOTS of gore, I must say, and a cast of odd people, but it was worth it. Plus, who wouldn't want to see a girl get her leg pulled off, replaced with a chair stump, and then replaced with a freaking gun? Hell, it matched her outfit!
One of the main reasons I liked this one so much was that it wasn't afraid to get down and dirty. Yes, it was Tarantino like, with all the action and strange mishaps, but unlike Pulp Fiction and some of the greatest films to his name, "Planet Terror" started with action and ended with action. Yeah, there was a lot of humor added in, and it was pretty damn funny, especially Naveen Andrew's "gay" character. But it was a fan film, definitely. I don't think Tarantino would have made "Planet Terror" as good as Rodriguez had, which, in my opinion, is a good thing.
Some added features that made it awesome was the 1970's film problems. The screen constantly looked gritty, like the projector was slowly dying, and random parts would skip, giving it that feel. I personally thought that was incredibly kick-ass... that a person who can think of those types of thigs just absolutely need a handshake. During an almost-sex-scene, the camera dies like the film had just been burned, and then a big black film pops up saying "Missing Scene... sorry for the inconvenience -- the staff." How is that NOT kick ass?
"Death Proof"
Going into the movie, I wasn't too sure what this movie was supposed to be about. Coming out, I still had that feeling of blankness. Of course, I understand Tarantino's movies aren't the most impressively plot-heavy flicks, that they have a lot more meaning in place of plot, but I was a little disappointed there was nothing there to understand. Don't get me wrong, it was completely and utterly kick-ass... but it had a VEERRYY slow start.
A trademark of the Tarantino film is the dialogue. Pulp Fiction HAS it. Kill Bill has it. Reservoir Dogs has it. This movie has it. But as it gets farther and farther into the movie, I was concerned that I wasn't seeing the point behind this movie.
Kurt Russel took the cake in the movie itself. I dunno if it was his look, or the idea of him coming on to younger women that made it incredibly creepy. I just knew he was a bad person as soon as he walks up to the main characters and just randomly talks to them. I guess it was the thought that there really are people like him out there, that this movie is pretty damn realistic in a sense that men his age do that to women and kill them. It was just creepy.
I noticed that the grindy features and scratched scenes were kept at a minimum in this movie. Right before lap-dances or sex scenes, they would do the "missing scene" thing again, but other than that and a few skips towards the end of the movie, it seemed like they got tired of making it look like that. Another thing that bothered me was the modern-like appeals. In the first film, there were smaller things, like the mother had a high-tech cell phone or the people were sitting in a room with a really nice big-screen TV. But other than that, they kept it incredibly 70's like. The cars, the weapons, the scenes, the dialogue. It was all 70's like. During "Death Proof," they seemed to do the opposite. Sure, the car was 70's like (and incredibly kick ass), but the girls wore clothes modern day preps wear, they all had cellphones, they were reading Allure (which I HIGHLY doubt J-Lo was on the cover in the 70's), and best of all, in the big car chase at the end, they crashed into a drive-in movie sign advertising "Scary Movie 4." It just seemed like the master of fake 70's movies has passed his torch to the fans.
But I thought it was still great.
As a whole: The ABSOLUTE, HANDS DOWN, KICK-HIS-ASS best part of the double feature were the fake commericals and previews. Machete, Don't, Werewolf Women of The SS, and Thanksgiving were the fake movies, but GODDAMMIT the previews were amazing! And they added in the commercials for a fake mexican restaurant, advertising the shittiest food you could possibly imagine, it really made my family laugh like banshees. Actually, everyone in the theater looked at us like we were retarded because were laughing so hard.
Overall, I really enjoyed GRINDHOUSE. Although both movies included an EXCESSIVE amount of gore and grossness, it was truly an awesome flick.
on a 1-10 scale, I would give GRINDHOUSE an 8. By themselves, Planet Terror - 7, Death Proof - 5.
GO SEE IT TODAY!
GRINDHOUSE
a review by A. Marga
I went to see GRINDHOUSE expecting it to be extraordinary. and hell, was it just!
The movie is a "double feature" of Robert Rodriguez's "Planet Terror" and Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof." The entire picture was supposed to spoof a classic drive in during the seventies, including random things I thought were snazzy.
"Planet Terror"
Out of the two movies, sadly I must confess that "Planet Terror" was probably the better one. Not only was it out of the ordinary, it was hella awesome! I would guess it was around 1:15 minutes of pure action, but it felt good. LOTS of gore, I must say, and a cast of odd people, but it was worth it. Plus, who wouldn't want to see a girl get her leg pulled off, replaced with a chair stump, and then replaced with a freaking gun? Hell, it matched her outfit!
One of the main reasons I liked this one so much was that it wasn't afraid to get down and dirty. Yes, it was Tarantino like, with all the action and strange mishaps, but unlike Pulp Fiction and some of the greatest films to his name, "Planet Terror" started with action and ended with action. Yeah, there was a lot of humor added in, and it was pretty damn funny, especially Naveen Andrew's "gay" character. But it was a fan film, definitely. I don't think Tarantino would have made "Planet Terror" as good as Rodriguez had, which, in my opinion, is a good thing.
Some added features that made it awesome was the 1970's film problems. The screen constantly looked gritty, like the projector was slowly dying, and random parts would skip, giving it that feel. I personally thought that was incredibly kick-ass... that a person who can think of those types of thigs just absolutely need a handshake. During an almost-sex-scene, the camera dies like the film had just been burned, and then a big black film pops up saying "Missing Scene... sorry for the inconvenience -- the staff." How is that NOT kick ass?
"Death Proof"
Going into the movie, I wasn't too sure what this movie was supposed to be about. Coming out, I still had that feeling of blankness. Of course, I understand Tarantino's movies aren't the most impressively plot-heavy flicks, that they have a lot more meaning in place of plot, but I was a little disappointed there was nothing there to understand. Don't get me wrong, it was completely and utterly kick-ass... but it had a VEERRYY slow start.
A trademark of the Tarantino film is the dialogue. Pulp Fiction HAS it. Kill Bill has it. Reservoir Dogs has it. This movie has it. But as it gets farther and farther into the movie, I was concerned that I wasn't seeing the point behind this movie.
Kurt Russel took the cake in the movie itself. I dunno if it was his look, or the idea of him coming on to younger women that made it incredibly creepy. I just knew he was a bad person as soon as he walks up to the main characters and just randomly talks to them. I guess it was the thought that there really are people like him out there, that this movie is pretty damn realistic in a sense that men his age do that to women and kill them. It was just creepy.
I noticed that the grindy features and scratched scenes were kept at a minimum in this movie. Right before lap-dances or sex scenes, they would do the "missing scene" thing again, but other than that and a few skips towards the end of the movie, it seemed like they got tired of making it look like that. Another thing that bothered me was the modern-like appeals. In the first film, there were smaller things, like the mother had a high-tech cell phone or the people were sitting in a room with a really nice big-screen TV. But other than that, they kept it incredibly 70's like. The cars, the weapons, the scenes, the dialogue. It was all 70's like. During "Death Proof," they seemed to do the opposite. Sure, the car was 70's like (and incredibly kick ass), but the girls wore clothes modern day preps wear, they all had cellphones, they were reading Allure (which I HIGHLY doubt J-Lo was on the cover in the 70's), and best of all, in the big car chase at the end, they crashed into a drive-in movie sign advertising "Scary Movie 4." It just seemed like the master of fake 70's movies has passed his torch to the fans.
But I thought it was still great.
As a whole: The ABSOLUTE, HANDS DOWN, KICK-HIS-ASS best part of the double feature were the fake commericals and previews. Machete, Don't, Werewolf Women of The SS, and Thanksgiving were the fake movies, but GODDAMMIT the previews were amazing! And they added in the commercials for a fake mexican restaurant, advertising the shittiest food you could possibly imagine, it really made my family laugh like banshees. Actually, everyone in the theater looked at us like we were retarded because were laughing so hard.
Overall, I really enjoyed GRINDHOUSE. Although both movies included an EXCESSIVE amount of gore and grossness, it was truly an awesome flick.
on a 1-10 scale, I would give GRINDHOUSE an 8. By themselves, Planet Terror - 7, Death Proof - 5.
GO SEE IT TODAY!